A man who engaged in the “thrill killing” of a 23-year-old man eight years ago just off Oh My God Road above Idaho Springs has been sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.

Brent McKellip, 31, was convicted this week in Clear Creek County District Court in Georgetown of first-degree murder in the death of Mark Francis and immediately sentenced. McKellip was initially convicted in 2006. The Colorado Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 2009. The retrial was held this week — again resulting in McKellip’s conviction.

In February 2002, Francis was lured by McKellip and McKellip’s cousins Zack McKellip and Justin Reents to a location just off the precipitous mountain road west of Denver. There, Francis was repeatedly shot.

Prosecutors said Brent McKellip decided in early February 2002 that the trio would stage a series of home-invasion robberies, and that it might be necessary to kill the occupants. In preparation, Brent McKellip looked for an easy target to practice on. That target, said district attorney Mark Hurlbert, was Francis, Zack McKellip’s best friend. Howard Pankratz, The Denver Post